The Chance of Their Lifetime
by Yidkirkin of the Warhammer
Summary: Ginny was changed by Tom Riddle's Horcrux, Kouhei realized he was wrong through Teru's words. One dies before he can find a dream to live for, the other lives while trying to reach it. Will the timid witch be able to handle all that the violent gang leader can throw at her? Gen fic. Mostly canon compliant but expect one or two major changes.
1. Chapter 1

**The Chance of Their Lifetime**

by: Yidkirkin of the Warhammer

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

I've decided to post this since I've had it written up for a little while. I'm still going on A Strange Connection, but I work better in big spurts, so it might be a while before the next chapter.

Also I've come across a really good band(s) recently. _The Birthday_ and _Thee Michelle Gun Elephant_ in which one turned into the other. I especially like _Smokin' Billy_ and_ Calendar Girl_. You should check them out if you like J-Rock.

WARNING: YEAH YEAH SPOILERS.

Vvv

"_You're Jinnai from Hama Mid.? I hear you're nuts."  
>"A Savings Account? You?"<br>"My future has companions! But yours consists only of dirty money!"  
>"Once I find out, that's when I'll give you your answer!"<br>"I'll handle this- and your part of it, too... you've done enough, Tetsuji..."  
>"M-Mom... H... Help me... please..."<em>

Vvv

When Molly Weasley knocked on her daughter's bedroom door to wake her for breakfast, she did not expect anything out of the ordinary to occur.

Ginny had been home for the last two weeks of school so that she could recover from her ordeal at the hands of the possessed diary that had been speaking to the eleven year old for nearly the entire year. Her daughter had been very quiet during her break from school, but in the last day or so she had begun to come back to herself. She had been eating more and sleeping regularly, and that gave Molly some hope that Ginny could go back to the way she had been before she had gone off to Hogwarts.

So when Molly knocked on Ginny's door and called out that breakfast was on the table, the last thing she expected to hear was a strangled sob from the other side.

"Ginny? Ginny, dear, what's the matter?" Molly immediately asked, worried and ready to burst into the room but wanting to give Ginny a little time to respond, just in case she wanted her privacy.

More sobbing reached Molly's ears, and then her daughter spoke, small and quiet and so weak that it broke her heart into hundreds of pieces.

"M-Mom... H... Help me... please... it hurts..." Molly had no need for further prompting, and practically broke the door off of it's hinges in order to get to Ginny as quickly as she could.

The youngest Weasley was curled up into a tight ball on her bed, face scrunched up in pain and arms wound tightly around her stomach. There were no tears on her pale face, but she let out sobs in between long, shuddering breaths, and blood dripped from her open mouth, staining her faded yellow sheets. Ginny opened her eyes to look at her mother and coughed then, sending more blood flying down onto her bed.

"Help... ugh... it- it hurts... so much..."

"Ginny!" Molly screamed, rushing over to her daughter, her baby, wand drawn and tears gathering in her eyes. "Ginny, oh, my baby... don't move, it's going to be alright, just hold on..." Ginny shut her eyes and held her mother's free hand in a vice grip, her face slackening as Molly flicked her wand in several directions, muttering unintelligibly under her breath.

"It's okay Ginny, you're fine, you're alright." Molly told her child, running the tip of her wand in a circle around Ginny's form, a silver trail of mist following in the wake of the wand. When the circle connected, it let out a flash of white light and Ginny suddenly became still, every faucet of her previously terrified and agonized state becoming calm and settled. It was mandatory for all seventh years to learn a stasis spell to use on those who were injured. As Molly pried her hand out of her daughter's grip, she thanked every god she knew that it was so.

Racing down the stairs, Molly headed straight for the fireplace, nearly knocking over the floo pot in her haste to throw the powder into the fire. Kneeling, she stuck her head close to the flames and called out for St. Mungo's; moments later the face of a young man appeared and focused on her.

"St. Mungo's, how can I help you?" The young man asked promptly, squinting at Molly through the smoke and flames. Molly leaned back to give him some room even as her tears finally started to trickle down her cheeks.

"It's my daughter- I don't know what happened, but when I went to wake her up she was c-crying and coughing up blood, and h-holding her stomach." The young man's face disappeared for a moment, but was back nearly as quickly. "I put her under the standard Oxnarian Stasis Seal- we're at the Weasley residence near Ottery St. Catchpole."

"Please stand back ma'am, a team of three Healers will be at your location in a moment." Scrambling up, Molly barely had time to back away before an older woman and two young adults stepped out of the fireplace. The eldest of the trio immediately turned to Molly and moved towards her.

"I am Healer Cornwall, these are Healers McCarthy and Kumar. Where is the young lady?"

"This way- please, follow me." The climb up the narrow and rickety staircase was one of the longest of her life; they couldn't reach Ginny soon enough in her opinion. Healer Cornwall entered the room first, setting to work without so much as a pause and flanked by the two younger healers. With the younger pair manoeuvring the still in-stasis child into a lying position and pushing up her night shirt, the kneeling Mediwitch was free to assess the damage. Molly waited anxiously by the door, gasping in shock at what she could see of Ginny's stomach.

Two horrible stab wounds marred her skin, one just to the right of her navel and the second only just visible in her side. Both were still sluggishly spewing blood, since the seal wasn't meant to stop, only slow. As the Healers began flicking their wands over Ginny's waist, it became clear that the blood was stopping, and soon enough it had been cleaned away entirely, so that Healer Cornwall had access to the wounds without any fluid obstructing her work.

Watching as the Mediwitch started to heal the injuries from the inside out, Molly clutched at her heart as soon as it was over, and the two younger Healers started to levitate Ginny into the air. Healer Cornwall approached her with a neutral expression, not giving Molly any indication of her inner thoughts.

"Mrs. Weasley, your stasis spell likely saved your daughter. I'm keeping it over her for the time being, I noticed something while healing her." Molly's blood ran cold at her next words. "I'm afraid that she has to be brought to St. Mungo's. What is her name?"

"Ginny. Ginny Weasley. Please, what's wrong with her?" As her child was brought out of the room, Molly's want to hear of anything wrong with her little girl warred with her need to be by that little girl's side. Healer Cornwall motioned for her to follow the other healers down the stairs.

"I think it would be best to discuss this when Ginny's father is present. Is he? Present?" Molly took a deep breath, stopping herself from snapping at the healer to just _tell her what was wrong_. The mediwitch was right, it would be better if Arthur was with her when they were told what Ginny needed.

"He's at work right now. I could floo the Ministry and get to St. Mungo's in ten minutes, would that be best?" They had reached the ground floor, and Molly watched as Ginny was levitated out of the house, since portkeys were the preferred transport method for those in stasis.

"The best is whatever gets your daughter there faster." Healer Cornwall replied evenly, readying the portkey at her teammate's insistence. "I'll have Healer Kumar wait for you in the lobby of St. Mungo's."

"Thank you." As soon as the group had been taken away, Molly turned on her heel and rushed back to the fireplace, throwing the floo powder into the flame with more force than she usually did. When Arthur's face bloomed into view, he looked tired and satisfied, the same look he had whenever he finished investigating an interesting case.

"Hello dear, sorry for the delay. You don't normally call me at work." Arthur observed, noticing his wife's blotchy cheeks and wrinkled forehead after he had spoken, so Molly sniffed and shook her head.

"Arthur- Arthur, it's Ginny, she had to go to- had to go to St. Mungo's, I don't know w-what to do..." Arthur sucked in an alarmed breath and shuffling sounds were heard on the other end of the connection.

"Wait right there dear, I'll be home in a second." Arthur disappeared from the flames, but \molly could still hear him telling Perkins where he was going, and then he was stumbling out of the fireplace, tripping over the rug as he sank to the ground and enveloped Molly in his arms. "Molly, dear Merlin..."

"Sh- She was crying... and- and bleeding from her stomach and-" Molly sobbed loudly into Arthur's shoulder, and he tightened his arms to try and comfort her. "-and her mouth... Arthur I don't know what happened! I just w- went to wake her up for- for breakfast! The healer said that if I hadn't of cast the spell when I did-!"

"Shh... we'll figure this out Molly. Let's just- let's get to Ginny before anything else." Soothing, Arthur brought both of them to their feet and turned on the spot, concentrating and apparating them to St. Mungo's. Landing in the deserted waiting room, the couple were greeted by Healer Kumar who took them up the main staircase and up to the children's ward where Healer Cornwall was waiting for them.

"Mr. And Mrs. Weasley, please sit. We have a few things to discuss concerning your daughter." The older woman went straight to the point, gesturing at a pair of chairs directly opposite the one she had yet to sit in.

"What's wrong with Ginny?" Molly asked as soon as they had seated themselves, nerves stretched so thin that it was a wonder that she hadn't asked as soon as they had walked through the door. Healer Cornwall sighed heavily and crossed her arms, giving the young girl a sideways glance.

"Miss Weasley has severe magic depletion, slight malnutrition and several lesions on her scalp hidden by her hair." Molly's hand flew to cover her mouth and Arthur's fingers clenched from their place on his wife's shoulder. "Though I managed to fully heal the lacerations to her stomach and side, she will need to remain in our care for at least the next week in order to get her back on the path to proper health... What concerns me more than her condition itself is how she came to be in such a state." As the silence stretched longer and longer, Arthur took the lead and cleared his throat, pausing only briefly to look askance at Healer Kumar in the doorway.

"Ginny was being... possessed. Nearly the entire school year, so far as we can tell." He said slowly, keeping in mind what Dumbledore had told him not to mention. "It's since been destroyed, but we really thought that was the end of it. If you need to, please talk to the Headmaster, he can tell you more than we could."

"That's why Ginny was at home instead of Hogwarts." Molly explained, not taking her eyes off of her daughter. "So she could recover, but then... then this..."

Healer Cornwall nodded tersely, handing the Weasley couple a piece of parchment with a detailed schedule written on it. "This is the potions regimen Miss Weasley will be started on today, barring any changes made later. All will be fed into her through a insertion spell while she is under a magically induced coma. After her release at the end of the week, it will be your responsibility to have her follow a new regimen for her to reach full health."

"Yes, yes of course." Molly told the mediwitch, tucking the paper into her pocket gingerly and moving her chair to Ginny's side, Arthur following suit. The healer watched them for a moment before moving towards the door, turning to address Healer Kumar once the door had been shut behind her.

"Please go and get me some floo powder. I'm going to call Headmaster Dumbledore immediately." Healer Kumar nodded once and strode off, leaving her senior to walk sedately back to her office.

Vvv

It was five days later that the rest of the Weasley children returned from Hogwarts, ferried back to the Burrow by the Knight Bus and excited for the beginning of summer. Upon entering their home, they found their father waiting for them at the kitchen table, the Daily Prophet spread out in front of him and a mug of gillywater in his hand. He asked his boys to put their things away and then come back down quickly, a task they executed with worry growing in their chests at the blatant tiredness dimming Arthur's normally cheerful features. When those four of the Weasley brothers were sitting around their father, he pushed his drink and the newspaper to the side and gave a heavy sigh.

"Something happened to your sister." All four sat up rigidly at this; they had already been told about Ginny's possession (save Ron), but they hadn't been informed about anything else beyond that she was staying home to recover from it. "On Sunday, your mother found Ginny, and she had been stabbed twice in the stomach." Alarmed looks painted his children's faces, and Arthur held up a hand to stop them from speaking before he was done. "We don't know who did it or how it happened, but thankfully she was healed in time. It did reveal a few lingering effects from the possession as well, so Ginny has been in a magical coma since then, taking many different potions to get her back to her former health. If all goes well, she'll be able to come home within the next few days."

"Why didn't you _tell_ us?" Ron demanded, his ears turning red in frustration and his eyes narrowing dangerously.

"You all still had school, and Ginny was in no danger after she got to St. Mungo's." Arthur nearly snapped; exhaustion and anxiety combining to make his usually soft countenance stern and irritable. "We had a choice between worrying you for the entirety of your final week or wait to tell you until you could physically be here with us, and her."

"Is- Is mother with Ginny right now?" Percy quietly asked, averting his eyes to study the dusty kitchen counter, no longer gleaming from constant use and constant cleaning, having been abandoned for almost a week. Arthur's eyes softened as he looked at his middle child; Percy had been feeling so _guilty_ for not telling anyone about Ginny's troubles and Arthur knew that once she was released Percy wasn't going to let her out of his sight.

"She'll be back soon, visiting hours end right around now." Fred and George scowled fiercely, realizing that that meant they couldn't see their baby sister right away. Arthur noticed this as well and was quick to reassure them, lest he start finding singed Gnomes out underneath their window. "Don't worry, we'll be going to St. Mungo's tomorrow, you won't have to wait much longer to see her. Maybe even-"

Arthur cut himself off as Molly swept into the kitchen, frazzled and stressed but smiling and brightening even more when she caught sight of the rest of her family. The boys began bombarding her with questions, so loud that Arthur temporarily _silencio-ed_ them before he could calm them down enough that their mother could speak.

"They said that Ginny's doing better than they could have expected." Molly reported, the sheer relief she felt was clear in her eyes as she told them. "When we go tomorrow, Ginny will be awake. Healer Cornwall explained that she would wake her up before we got there because Ginny still has to take a few potions."

Arthur looked a little troubled, but nodded in acceptance. "If that's what she thinks is best."

"When are we-"

"-going to see her? Not too-"

"-late in the day we hope." The twins interjected, giving their parents equally pleading looks.

"We're going at noon, so we can bring Ginny lunch." Molly said, finally sitting down heavily in the chair next to her husband. "I don't feel up to cooking tonight."

"I'll cook, dear, that is, if you don't mind it being subpar compared to your meals." Molly smiled at Arthur, content in the knowledge that tomorrow their life could start going back to normal.

Vvv

Two years later, Jinnai Kouhei opened his eyes.

Vvv

Aaaaaand first chapter done. I aim to populate the world with Crows x Worst crossovers. I'm doing this one with slightly shorter chapters so I can keep up with **A Strange Connection**. Sorry, but I'm still not feeling up to continuing **An Honoured Shinobi.** Have you _seen_ the last two chapters of Naruto? Holy cuss it is absolutely _awful_ and I hate it.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Chance of Their Lifetime**

by: Alfred Juumonji

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

I take inspiration for this fic from **A Second Run **by _Dragonighta-93._ It's a fic for Eyeshield 21 and I love it to pieces. Sorry if things are a bit hard to follow at first, but bear with me and we'll get through it.

SPOILERS ARE HERE

Vvv

When Jinnai Kouhei opened his eyes, he was unaware of anything except a blinding white light, and so he closed them again, preferring the fuzzy, incoherent darkness over painful awareness. After a few minutes of listening to his own breathing, Kouhei flexed his limbs and found he was lying on a rather uncomfortable bed, and not, as he had expected, a dirty alleyway. Confused, he turned his head to the side, away from the light, and opened his eyes again.

He was in a hospital room, not unlike the one he had tried to find Teru in before he had been told that his friend was up on the roof. The only major difference was that this room's accents were lime green, and the residual medical equipment that littered so many other hospitals was noticeably absent. The room was also devoid of people, whether it be patients or staff, which suited Kouhei just fine. Gritting his teeth, he pushed himself into a sitting position and experienced an odd sensation, like vertigo after a very long sleep. Vision still blurry and not completely lucid, Kouhei pulled his hospital shirt away from his navel and was extremely surprised to find scars where he had expected stitches, in the same places that Sonoda had stabbed him.

Had he been unconscious long enough that his wounds had healed to such an extent? Kouhei remembered walking along that never ending wall, trailing blood and tears with every step as he tried to find _someone_ who would help him. He remembered sliding to his knees, feeling the agony begin to fade and thinking of what Kyousuke was going to say, getting out of Juvie to find him dead. Had all that been an illusion, or had he come that close to death, only to be found and saved by someone he didn't even recall? So caught up in his own thoughts, Kouhei didn't even register the door opening until-

"Miss Weasley! Healer Cornwall, Miss Weasley is awake!"

With a jolt, Ginny spun towards the door, eyes wide and alarm plastered over her entire face. The two Mediwitches standing in the doorway raised their hands peacefully and Ginny relaxed somewhat, but she still felt incredibly confused and startled.

"I'm sure you're very confused, Miss Weasley." The younger healer said gently, entering the room slowly so she didn't startle her patient, the other healer waiting stoically by the exit. "You're in St. Mungo's, being treated for a number of symptoms caused by your possession. How are you feeling?"

Ginny blinked lethargically and ran a hand through her hair, far longer than it used to be and bright red instead of the blonde she had been expecting.

Her name was Ginny Weasley, she thought to herself with no small amount of scorn, the daughter of a Ministry worker and a house wife, the youngest child of seven and the only girl. She didn't know anyone named Kyousuke, she hadn't ever gone to a muggle hospital, and she most certainly hadn't been thinking of joining the Yakuza... whatever that was. Despite her efforts, the dream that she had been caught up in refused to leave her thoughts, making it so she almost missed the healer's next words.

"Miss Weasley? How do you feel?" The mediwitch repeated loudly, or maybe it only seemed that was the case, as the woman had moved right next to her. Ginny pushed aside the unsettling dream about the Japanese teenager and gave the healer a strained smile.

"I'm sorry. I feel fine, actually. Who are you?" The woman relaxed and lowered herself into the bedside chair, the other healer closing the door and standing at the end of the bed.

"My name is Healer Darcy, and that's Healer Cornwall. I'm your supervising Mediwitch, and Healer Cornwall is the supervisor of the entire St. Mungo's children's ward. You gave all of us a terrible scare young lady." Ginny's expression turned confused once again and she looked from one healer to the other, her brow pinched in a manner they had never gone before, giving her an oddly intense glare.

"Scare? What do you mean? I don't remember anything." Healer Cornwall smiled tensely.

"I expected as much. When you came to us, your mother had found you bleeding profusely from two stab wounds in your abdomen. We still don't know where they came from." Ginny gaped, not only because she didn't recall being injured so badly, but also at the fact that Kouhei _did _remember it. "When I was healing you, I noticed that you were severely magically depleted, malnourished and had lesions on your scalp. Conferring with the Headmaster, it was determined that they were caused by your prolonged possession. You were put into a magical coma and were supposed to have been woken up after several days on a potions schedule... but you wouldn't wake. You've been in this ward for almost two years, Miss Weasley."

Ginny's mind went blank, and then a million thoughts were racing through her, tumbling over each other before they could fully process and making her head throb. Two years, she had been in a coma for _two years?_ Where were her parents, what about Hogwarts, what about Luna and her brothers and- "What?" Ginny managed to squeak out, a sharp pain in her head and stomach stopping her from saying any more.

She could practically _see_ Sonoda drawing away from her, but he hadn't attacked her, he had attacked Kouhei; but even so she could _feel_ the agonizing burn from the knife in her side, and again when Sonoda stabbed her in the stomach. But instead of abandoning her to die like he had, he began to laugh, high and cold and exactly like Tom Riddle, Lord Voldemort, the boy who had comforted her all year and let her write to him but who had also made her do so many terrible, horrible things. She saw him standing over her, waiting for the last of her magic to drain away and leave her a cold shell of who she used to be, alone in that forgotten chamber and dying of more than just magic depletion. Healer Darcy had started talking when Ginny had zoned out, and she was still talking, but Ginny could not decipher the words as she slowly drew the covers off of her legs and began to move them off of the mattress.

"Miss Weasley, you shouldn't be moving right now." Healer Darcy said in what she probably thought was a stern tone of voice, looking put out at being ignored by her patient. For a split second, Ginny found herself wanting to sneer at the obviously naive healer, before she regained her thought process and noticed that the younger healer's hand was hovering near her robes pocket. Ginny didn't want to be _stunned_, despite the woman's probably good intentions, so she schooled her expression into one of part embarrassment and part discomfort, hoping that she would be able to get out of this room with little difficulty.

"Healer, I- uh, need to use the loo. Really bad." Ginny voiced the first excuse that came to mind. "I'm sorry, but..."

"No, it's alright." Healer Darcy said, pointing to the other side of the room with the hand that had been poised to grab her wand just a moment earlier. Ginny noticed that Healer Cornwall was frowning now, but at what the girl couldn't tell. "It's right through there. Tell me first next time, you're still weak." Ginny nodded and stepped fully onto the ground, only dimly aware that she hadn't moved in two years, but strangely enough she felt stronger than she had in a long time. Declining Healer Cornwall's offer of assistance, the redhead padded over to the door and bolted it shut behind her, immediately going to stare at the familiar face in the mirror.

She really _had_ been asleep for two years, hadn't she? A part of her, when the healer told her how long she had been here, didn't believe the older woman, preferring to think that this was all some elaborate dream or a prank by Fred and George. But she was taller now, by a good few inches; she was probably taller than Professor Sprout, and that at least she was happy about. She had lost a lot of baby fat, and her nose was thinner, her jaw more resembling her father than her mother who she had expected to take after. Her hair, which used to be only a little past her shoulders, was now nearing the small of her back, and she really needed to cut her finger nails.

Pulling up her shirt, Ginny studied the two white scars on her middle, both in the exact spots that she knew Kouhei had received them. She ran her fingers along them and felt a tingling in the back of her mind, reminding her of a warning signal for some reason. Ginny wondered if Kouhei was really just a figment of her imagination, she had really felt as if she was him when she had woken up earlier. The longer Ginny kept her fingers on her scars the more prominent the tingling sensation became, but not enough for her to sense yet.

Thinking hard, Ginny could suddenly remember a lot of information about Kouhei, a lot of things she normally wouldn't retain from a dream.

She could remember what Kouhei's mother used to put into their Oden at Christmas, eating dinner with her son and then-boyfriend at home because they had been snowed in again, since they had lived in Hokkaido until Kouhei was seven. She could clearly recall Kouhei, still sore from another growth spurt and fiddling with his uniform cuffs in his grade six English class, being called down to the office and having no idea that his mother had just died of an aneurism in the middle of a local conbini. Kouhei, who had ruined his first middle school uniform shirt by fighting Tachibana Sousuke from Iraki Mid, who had felt confused and lost as Kiiko prattled on about his savings account and his dream, who had cut all ties with his friends afterwards in order to join the recently booming Snake Heads gang.

The sharp pain returned to her, digging itself into her brain and stomach and absolutely unbearable, but Ginny couldn't bring herself to move her hands. She was buying the loyalty of the other Snake Heads leaders, stewing on Touji's report about Parko and Dangerers, becoming Tetsuji's sworn brother, listening to Teru ream him out for his actions and realizing how much of a _stupid gutless coward_ he had been, acting like some sulking little kid at the chance that his friends were growing beyond his reach.

"Miss Weasley? You've been in there an awfully long time, are you feeling ill?"

He was supposed to have _gone away_ from that town with Tetsuji, start over again somewhere else where there was no Snake Heads, no Parko or Kiiko, no Teru and no Kyousuke and dammit all he had _died!_ Kouhei screamed loudly, ripping his hands away from his stomach and clutching at his temples again, clutching at his too long hair with his too small hands that wouldn't even be able to make a mark on _Sonoda,_ the fucking bastard! Kouhei registered that the door had been wrenched open, but he was too lost in himself to care.

Fuck, fuck, _fuck!_ Where were his friends, where was Tetsuji, _where were they,_ the only real comrades he had ever known, fuck, where was _he?_ Sonoda slammed the knife into his side from his blind spot, coward that he was, but the pain wasn't enough to bring him down yet, so the bastard struck again. Bleeding out and struggling to walk, Kouhei called out for anyone, please, help me! It hurts... ugh, god dammit, I'm going to die, _mom..._

The last thought Kouhei had as everything went black was about the dream that Teru had told him about, and how he had never seen it come to fruition.

Vvv

There's the second chapter done, short and sweet and one that I'm marginally more satisfied with. For some reason I found it really hard to write the Weasley interaction last chapter, but had an easy time with Ginny and Kouhei's angsty thoughts this chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Chance of Their Lifetime**

by: Yidkirkin of the Warhammer

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Here's the third chapter, don't know what to say about this one, other than I seem to like writing inner turmoil.

SPOILERS OVER YONDER

Vvv

Ginny woke up all at once, one moment floating in blissful darkness and the next squeezing her eyes shut to block out the blaring sun. When the knowledge of where she was came back to her she grew very still and kept her breathing deep, until she determined that the only other presence in the room was the ticking clock in the far corner. Relaxing marginally, her hands creeped underneath her shirt and lightly traced her scars, and once again she found that Kouhei's memories came to her uncontested.

When Kouhei had entered middle school, still burned out emotionally from his mother's death and with a body more suited to violence than ever before, he hadn't expected to meet anyone worth his time, or even his notice. His first few months at Hama Mid. had been spent fighting a never ending well of opponents, from his peers at Hama to the seniors of various middle schools in the area. His fight with the seniors at Fourth Mid. would have been his worst loss, had Kyousuke not shown up out of the blue to offer him some help.

Kyousuke had been his first friend, and the first that he could trust with his back and know that the other man would never abuse that trust. Kiiko and Teru had come next, and even closer after that he had met Parko, but Kouhei had always felt the closest to Kyousuke, something he hadn't felt again until he met Tetsuji. Kyousuke would have ripped him a new one if he had seen him in the Snake Heads, but he would have given him a cigarette immediately after that. Kyousuke would have found him right away, would have dragged him back from where he had gone and forced him to change so that Kouhei wouldn't have ever gotten himself stabbed in the first place. Kyousuke was what he needed right now, confused and alone in this _fucking magic_ _hospital_, with the body of a fourteen year old girl and the sanity of a dead man slowly bleeding away without any familiar faces to ground him.

_What's happening to me?_ Ginny thought, removing her hands from her stomach to rub at her upper arms. _Am I Kouhei? No, I'm Ginny, but I don't feel like- I can't be- this isn't how- _

Ginny didn't understand what was going on. She had been at home, it seemed like only a night or so had passed since then, but instead she had been in a coma for _two years_. Her body was different, her family was going to be different, everything was going to be so _different_ and she couldn't even take refuge when she was alone because _she_ was different _too._ The stab wounds from Sonoda, memories from the life of another person, the foreign language that tried to slip into her speech and thoughts every time she let her guard down, all these _emotions _that she hadn't experienced in months because of Tom, but now she was drowning in them. Ginny couldn't process it; Kouhei's mourning, his camaraderie with Kyousuke, the mutual respect and dedication he had with Tetsuji, the utter disbelief that Sonoda had actually _stabbed_ him, the desperation to get help, the elation when he realized he would see his mother again. Ginny didn't know _how_ to process it; she had never lost a parent, or had such a strong friendship, or such a connection with someone that they had become blood brothers. She had never experienced any of this, and as her mind spiralled with so many emotions and memories one thing stood out above all others.

He needed to get _out_ of this place.

With that one thought Ginny's body kicked into overdrive, and she shot over the side of the bed and began stumbling over to the cabinets underneath the window, hoping to find some of her clothes there or a pair of shoes at least. Rummaging through the drawers brought Ginny more than she had hoped; several different jumpers and pairs of pants, probably brought by her parents for when she was going to wake up, and left here when she never did so. Her wand was also sitting on top of the neatly folded pile of clothes, and when Ginny touched it her hand glowed with the magic that suddenly coursed through her, filling her up with warmth and confidence and the good feelings that she had lacked for so long. When she picked up the jumper that her wand had been resting on, a small clinking sound reached her ears, and upon investigating she found that there was a bit of money in one of the pockets.

Looking at the clock in the corner, Kouhei's memories supplied that hospitals normally brought lunch in around now, and that she likely had around ten minutes to make a break for muggle London if she were still so inclined. Stripping out of the thin hospital garb, Ginny paused for barely a minute so she could inspect her body; she noted with no small amount of surprise that despite the 2 years of inactivity, it looked to be about the proper weight and physical prowess for one her age, if she took Kouhei's own... experiences into account. But it was also with distain that she realized that Kouhei had been right in saying that she wouldn't even be able to make a mark on Sonoda. While Ginny hurriedly dressed and pulled her shoes onto her feet, a tight enough squeeze that she debated on leaving the shoes altogether, she quietly decided that she needed to change her weakness as soon as she possibly could.

The hallway was empty when Ginny poked her head out of her room, the only indication of life being the squealing laughter further down the hall, and faint footsteps coming from the main staircase. Closing the door quietly behind her, Ginny ducked into the door opposite her own just before the footsteps passed on the way to the commotion at the end of the hall, and then she immediately began racing upstairs.

From what she could remember, having come to St. Mungo's once before to visit her maternal grandfather, there was a gift shop on the fifth floor and just past that was a service staircase that was left in relative vacancy. Pushing open the door to the shop, Ginny did her best to blend into the throng of customers as she swerved to try and get to the other exit. On her way, she spotted a hat stand tucked out of sight of the checkout counter, and so right before the door closed behind her, she found herself thinking about one instance back in Kouhei's second year of high school and had snatched one of the numerous green baseball caps right off the rack.

Ginny paused a moment to tuck her hair up and out of sight underneath the hat, just like Kouhei used to do before he cut his hair in his first year of high school. Not caring enough to check whether or not all of it was hidden, she adjusted his shoes one more time before starting down the stairs, taking them two at a time and nearly tripping when she heard a scream from the fourth floor.

If St. Mungo's was _anything_ like the other hospitals Kouhei had been to, Ginny knew that it was only a matter of time before any escape routes to the outside would be blocked, and all of her efforts would go to waste. Ginny slowed to a light trot as a young couple came into her sight, ignoring them as they passed her to enter the second floor. Once she was sure the door had closed she practically flew down the last two flights of stairs, rounding the last corner only to slow again so she could walk through the bustling waiting room.

Shoulders tensed horribly, Ginny manoeuvred her way through the complicated layout of the room, swerving every now and then in order to avoid one of the more abstract cases, those who couldn't control their own movements or the like. When a man with a sentient ponytail nearly knocked her hat off of her, she picked up the pace until she saw the hospital exit. Finally passing through the barrier and landing upright in the street that lay beyond, Ginny didn't give a second thought before she broke into a sprint, heading away from the building and ducking into the first alleyway that she saw.

Ginny paid no mind to where she was heading, only focusing on her immediate surroundings, placing one foot in front of the other and falling back into the mindset that had been Kouhei's specialty back in elementary school. Back when he was too small and plucky to really make a mark against the local assholes, back before his first major growth spurt that had left him with a sturdy torso and a strong punch. Kouhei may have changed a lot since that time, but he still remembered just what movements to make in order to jump fences and vault above overturned garbage bins; just what movements he needed so that he could _escape_.

Ginny burst out into the middle of one of the busier markets in that borough and kept on running, although she did slow enough that it looked like she was jogging, instead of the intense sprint that Kouhei desperately wanted to fall back into. It was better overall for her; Ginny's body, though it was in better condition than it should have been, was still tiring quickly, held up by her desperation and Kouhei's will but not much else. Searching for a street sign, Ginny made a frustrated sound; she was still too close to St. Mungo's and she didn't _know_ anyone here, there was nowhere for her to take cover in London that wasn't magical. Back in Tsuchiura Kouhei had known a lot of people besides his four best friends, and whenever he had need of it he could call in a favour and get a place to lay low in. It was clear now that until she gained a few contacts _here_, she was at a big disadvantage.

As soon as a suitable alley turned up, Ginny ditched the market road and started sprinting until she reached a deserted courtyard, connected to the main road by a side street but only used for garbage pickup by the looks of it. Adjusting her cap again, Ginny pulled out her wand with her free hand and stuck it out in front of her, taking a short step back so she didn't get run over by the purple three-decker that suddenly screeched to a halt in the courtyard. After a long moment, the bus doors opened to reveal a thin, scraggly youth perhaps around Charlie's age, who hopped off of the step to land directly in front of Ginny. Kouhei had never seen anything like this before, so a sense of overwhelming disbelief filled her before she could stop it.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus!" The man said grandly, sweeping his left arm behind him to indicate the purple vehicle that he had just disembarked, and smiling at Ginny toothily. "Emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike, and I will be your conductor this evening."

Ginny stared up at the man as he levelled her with an expectant look; belatedly she realized that Stan was waiting for her name. "Kouhei Jinnai." Ginny said, nodding in response to the tip of Stan's hat. "How much is it to ride?"

"Eleven sickles." Stan replied promptly as Ginny dug into her pockets. "But for thirteen you get hot chocolate and for fifteen you get an 'ot water bottle and a toothbrush in the colour of your choice."

Pulling out all the coins she had, Ginny had to pause a moment to remember how to count them, as Kouhei had only ever used Yen as opposed to wizard currency. Quite carefully, Ginny counted out exactly eight sickles and made a frustrated expression, clicking her tongue.

"I only have eight sickles." She said eventually, holding out her hand for Stan to see. "Could I stand during the trip? I don't need a seat; really, I just need to get to the Leaky Cauldron."

"The Leaky Cauldron? That ain't even worth three sickles to go there!" Stan stepped aside and ushered Ginny onto the bus and into a squishy armchair near the driver's seat. "Hey Ern', let's get going." Bracing herself, Ginny's breath caught in her throat as the bus gave a mighty bang and then lurched to a halt mere seconds later. Stan, who had remained standing for the short jump, reached over to Ginny's hand and extracted two of the silver coins, plopping them in his waist pouch.

"Two sickles for your trouble kid." The man said kindly, holding the door open for her as she stepped out onto the street. "Pay the full fee next time, y'hear?" Ginny nodded as the door's closed, and stepped away from the curb so that the Knight Bus could shoot off without the risk of running her over. Once again alone, Ginny turned on her heel and faced the wizarding pub that hid Diagon Alley from the rest of London.

Now that she was here, Ginny had no idea what she was going to do. Sure, she had some ideas thanks to Kouhei's memories, but Ginny was either too young or too weak for the vast majority of them, and for the rest they were simply too vague to go anywhere. A sense of dread lurched in her stomach as she froze in front of the door, shoppers all around her throwing irritated glances at her as they shouldered past. Ginny didn't care, she was barely paying attention as her insecurities and a sudden mental overload piled together and made her feel nauseous and dizzy.

She shouldn't have left St. Mungo's, she shouldn't have come to the Leaky Cauldron, she shouldn't have frozen in the middle of the sidewalk, she shouldn't have done anything! Had she just stayed asleep, stayed unaware, she wouldn't be feeling like this and she wouldn't have to think right now. She couldn't even remember why she had thought this was a good idea, Kouhei didn't know how to navigate anywhere with all this magic around, let along the capital city of a foreign country that he had never even learned much about in Japan. Ginny probably couldn't get around London with all of Kouhei's emotions weighing down on her, and even without those she had no experience with muggles at all. She felt her breath quicken, something that had never happened to either her nor Kouhei before and she had no idea how to deal with it, Kouhei was still reeling over that insane magic bus and the lime coloured not-doctors and even this bar that no one else could _see-_

"_You ain't panicking, are you, Jinnai? 'Cos there's no way in hell the man I chose to follow would panic over something like this!"_

_Tetsuji... _Relief coursed through Ginny's veins at Kouhei's brother's words, knocking her senses back into place with so little effort that she nearly felt the loss of him twofold, nearly thought that she had been Kouhei for a moment at how much Tetsuji's voice had calmed her. Straightening to her full height, Ginny allowed herself to channel a bit of the demeanour Kouhei had held as the Snake Heads leader, and finally moved towards the door.

Entering the bar and inn and keeping her head down, Ginny mulled over a few of the half baked plans Kouhei's memories supplied her as she weaved though the tables and went to the alley entrance in the back. Tapping the bricks methodically, Ginny hurried into the crowded street and let the people direct her destination, letting herself get swept up and not paying attention to her surroundings for a few minutes, only partly so that she wouldn't suffer another information overload.

The tide deposited her at the far left of the steps that led up to Gringott's. This wasn't what she expected, but as she stared up at the old and imposing bank facade something told her that she could make it work. Various services offered by the bank, picked up over her years living in a wizarding household, swirled around her mind as she ascended the steps and walked past the Goblin guards. The interior of the bank was less bustling than she thought it would have been, so Ginny took the opportunity to head straight to one of the low desks at the very back of the long hall, standing at the nearest desk until the employee noticed her.

The female Goblin stationed at the Travel and Foreign Inquiries desk regarded her with an unreadable expression for a moment before nodding towards one of two chairs placed there for customers. Ginny sat down stiffly and then, Kouhei having grown up in a very polite culture and then gone through the motions of all manner of gang related politics, she extended her hand towards the bank employee.

"Kouhei Jinnai. A pleasure to meet you." The Goblin looked surprised for all of two seconds before she smiled and returned the handshake.

"Stonebearer. What can I do for you today, Miss Jinnai?" Ginny felt a stab of annoyance at the 'Miss', but rationalized that it was only Kouhei being a man that caused the irritation, and anyway, Stonebearer didn't know about Kouhei at all. Ginny could see clearly in her mind an image of Tetsuji bowing his head to Kouhei after their fight, and the way that Teru had talked about his dream, and of Kiiko supporting an injured and slightly out of it Parko, and knew then what she was going to ask.

"I need some information on travel to and from Japan, and also whether wizards require a passport to travel either magically or the muggle way." Stonebearer nodded and took a minute to rummage through one of her desk drawers, soon emerging with two thick folded pamphlets which she passed to Ginny.

"Magical individuals may take international magical or muggle transportation with or without a passport; if they don't have a passport then they simply need to apply for a travel permit either through the Ministry for Magic or any Goblin run bank in their vicinity. The minimum age required for this without parental consent is fifteen." Ginny sighed but continued to peruse the pamphlets she had been given. "A magical individual may also apply for a muggle passport at the same institutions, but the minimum age without parental consent is eleven. A British passport lasts for 5 years for those under 16 and 10 years for those above 16, as opposed to a travel permit which is valid only for the travel it was designated for. The downside to applying for a muggle passport is that, due to most magicals not being registered in the muggle systems, nowadays it takes around year for the paperwork to go through."

So either way she wouldn't be able to find Tetsuji for at least a year, Ginny thought with no small amount of irritation. She would wait until the end of the talk to decide which travel method she would rather use, but so far she was leaning more towards a muggle passport, and not just because of Kouhei having been a muggle. If she applied for a passport now, she would be able to travel for five years before needing to get it renewed, but with a travel permit she would need to deal with the Ministry or Gringotts any and every time she wished to go anywhere.

"What about travelling to Japan, do you have any information on that?" Stonebearer nodded again.

"Indeed. There are several different magical transportation systems in place between the United Kingdom and Japan." Stonebearer handed Ginny another, very thin pamphlet with a flying carpet embossed on the cover. "There are three areas designated for Portkey transport; in Sapporo, Kyoto and the last in Nagasaki. There are three mass floo ports, in Yokohama, Aomori, and Hiroshima. And Tokyo has an area that can be reached by the Knight Bus, as do most capital cities. Rough costs are listed in the pamphlet you are holding."

Ginny slipped the paper into one of her inner pockets and took a minute to think over what Stonebearer had told her. She wanted to find all of Kouhei's comrades as soon as she could, just to see if they were real, just so she could sort out whatever was going on with her and put it to rest. But she knew that it would get harder to do so once her family and schooling came back into the picture, and once they did then she might not be able to get to it at all until after she graduated, which didn't sit well with her.

"Would I have to renew the passport through Gringotts or the Ministry when the time comes?" Ginny asked, inwardly decided but wanting to ask anyway.

"Yes, unless you possessed other pieces of muggle identification at the time, in which case it could be done through the muggle system... Would you like to apply for one right now?" Stonebearer had read her mind it seemed, and when Ginny answered in the affirmative the Goblin woman drew out two pieces of parchment and a quill.

"Simply fill these out and we will start on the process. If you have any questions feel free to ask." Ginny took the quill and the paper as Stonebearer went back to her own paperwork and looked over the questions before she began to fill them out.

_Name, date of birth, place of birth, gender, parents names..._ The forms were all quite vague, with no real specifics having to be outlined at all. Ginny thought that it was probably because a lot of wizards lived in places that muggles didn't know existed. Surveying the second page, it had several paragraphs that put that wondering to rest; you answered questions about ethnicity, religion and places of residence so that the Ministry could make up a sufficiently convincing background in the muggle world instead of revealing wizarding locations, but there was also an extra page for those who knew what they wanted their background to be, which is the section that Ginny filled out. _Kouhei Jinnai; 11 August 19XX; Niseko, Hokkaido, Japan; Female; Satsuki Jinnai and Seijuro Matsuda..._

As soon as she handed Stonebearer the papers, Ginny set the rest of her life in a far different direction than it would have gone had she stayed in the hospital, or even had she not entered Gringotts in the first place.

Ginny had decided to use only her own birthdate for the forms, but had taken the rest of the information from what she knew had been on Kouhei's birth certificate; granted she had chosen to use different characters for the names of his parents, but everything else remained the same. Ginny had initially been unsure as to what to put for her gender; it was true that she was biologically female but having a set of memories of a life as a male had thrown a bit of a wrench into that question. But in the end she had chosen female; ultimately it would lead to less confusion.

"Thank you. We will owl you after the paper work is sorted, as there will be one or two smaller matters that will need to be taken care of at that time. Is there anything else?" Stonebearer asked as she filed away the forms.

"No, that's everything. Thank you very much." The witch and Goblin shook hands again and then Ginny swiftly left the bank, keeping an eye out for anyone who might recognize her as she entered the crowd again.

This time Ginny wanted to get out of the alley as quickly as possible; she had been in the area for too long already, and it was only a matter of time before someone used the _Familiae Locante _spell. Despite the unexpected nature of the passport application, Ginny was satisfied with how it had gone, and only hoped that she had done the right thing in choosing to give more credence to what she remembered from Kouhei. As Ginny made her way out of the Leaky Cauldron and back down the streets of muggle London, she found herself growing increasingly tired, almost unnaturally so.

Stumbling, her feet came upon a large expanse of grass and she immediately fell to her knees, nearly unable to keep her eyes open for how tired she was feeling. She thrust her hands out before her to break her fall and managed to flip onto her back, alarm suddenly flooding through her system as her legs went numb and her vision began to turn black at the edges. She could still breathe properly, but when she tried to speak the words died before they left her lips, and then the tips of her fingers started to lose feeling as well.

_What the hell? _Ginny thought, mind flashing back to those few agonizing minutes before Kouhei had died; though this felt different from it, there was magic to worry about this time around, and spells could do a lot more than any knife. With one last burst of will, Ginny forced herself to keep her eyes open long enough to see a blurry, red headed figure start to approach her with their wand outstretched. An image of Sonoda came to her mind's forefront and all she could think was, _Fuck..._

_Fuck!_

Vvv

There's the third chapter! I was even more satisfied with this one, as you can tell by the longer length. : A Strange Connection is still in the works, so hopefully I can get that out sooner rather than later.


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